Another quick trip to keep the cobwebs away.
(thanks to the internet for the following information)
Elmwood Presbyterian Church (now the Elmwood Hall) was designed by amateur architect John Corry in 1859 and opened in 1862. It has been described as one of Ulster's best High Victorian church designs - a triumph of eclecticism, where the combination of apparently discordant elements such as a Renaissance arcade with chunky Venetian columns, mediaeval machicolations, a classical cornice and balustrade, a Moorish well canopy and a French needle spire are absorbed into a coherent but very elaborate Irish version of a Lombard Gothic church. (Irish Builder).
Behind the polychrome freestone façade the interior is surprisingly large, having a great width uninterrupted by roof supports, and a deep gallery running back over both vestibule and loggia, and reached by a winding staircase beneath the tower (which as part of the 1859 design was added in 1872). Queen’s University has converted the church into a concert hall.
The minister's room and school rooms to the rear of the church were added in 1866 also by John Corry, and also part of the original scheme. An application in 1985 to demolish the manse was successfully opposed by the UAHS.
The stonework was restored and the golden weathercock added by HA Patton & Partners in 1975. The polished granite pillars round the front courtyard had lost some of their elaborately carved sandstone capitals, but these were restored in 2000. The building has been deconsecrated and it is home to the Ulster Orchestra.
Short and sweet.
(thanks to the internet for the following information)
Elmwood Presbyterian Church (now the Elmwood Hall) was designed by amateur architect John Corry in 1859 and opened in 1862. It has been described as one of Ulster's best High Victorian church designs - a triumph of eclecticism, where the combination of apparently discordant elements such as a Renaissance arcade with chunky Venetian columns, mediaeval machicolations, a classical cornice and balustrade, a Moorish well canopy and a French needle spire are absorbed into a coherent but very elaborate Irish version of a Lombard Gothic church. (Irish Builder).
Behind the polychrome freestone façade the interior is surprisingly large, having a great width uninterrupted by roof supports, and a deep gallery running back over both vestibule and loggia, and reached by a winding staircase beneath the tower (which as part of the 1859 design was added in 1872). Queen’s University has converted the church into a concert hall.
The minister's room and school rooms to the rear of the church were added in 1866 also by John Corry, and also part of the original scheme. An application in 1985 to demolish the manse was successfully opposed by the UAHS.
The stonework was restored and the golden weathercock added by HA Patton & Partners in 1975. The polished granite pillars round the front courtyard had lost some of their elaborately carved sandstone capitals, but these were restored in 2000. The building has been deconsecrated and it is home to the Ulster Orchestra.
Short and sweet.
